Phonograph and analogous apparatus



E. GRISSINGER.

PHONOGRAPH AND A'NALOGOUS APPARATUS. AFPLICATIDN men MAR. 26. was.

1,339,649, Patented May, 11, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

WITNESSES Q Z lyvmmn i ATTORNEY-S E. GRISSINGER. PHDNUGRAPH AND ANALOGOUS APPARATUS.

APPLICAHON FILED MAR. 28, HJIEI- Patented May 11, 1920.

:irmmmimuy gamma? WITNESSES UNITED .strntrns PATENT OFFICE.

ELWOOD GRISSIN GER, F BUFFALO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO LUCY ASH GBISSINGER.

0F BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

PHONOGRAPI-I AND ANALOGOUS APPARATUS.

To all whom it may camera,

Be it known that I, ELwooD tirmssnvonn, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Phonographand Analogous A paratus, of which the following is a speci lcation.

My present invention is shown as embodied in a phonographic sound box which is primarily adapted for mechanically reproducing sound from a record, but may be employed for the reverse process of recording sound uponawaxer other impressionable surface. The general purposes and objects of my present invention are similar to those explained in my prior applications Ser. Nos. 236,735, 239,512 and 239,513; and the novel features of my present device may be employed in connection with the recording apparatus and methods of my application Ser. No. 236,735.

One important object of my present invention is to insure faithful transmission through a lever or other similar machine element, of physical nnnsements corresponding; to speech vibrations or other vibrations having similar 'l rclpieocier= or similar com-- plexitics. (crtain features: oi my invention which contribute to this objw-t are capable of useful employment not only in phonegraphs but also in other instruments wherein faithful executi n or transom Y plex or bi h frcqucmy movement,

sarv or r rable.

n phon .a aph apparatus. the sounds are represented solely by physical to unovements of the diaphragm, lever and lus, and the wide variations in loudness,

4O pitch and quality are represented solely by variations in the frequencies, speeds and distances or amplitudes of these physical movements. In recording, the lever is actuated by the diaphragm, and the stylus at the other end of the ing movements as undulations in a groove which the stylus cuts in the moving record. These undulations may be cut either in the side walls of the groove as in machines of the Victontalking machine type or in the bottom of the groove as in machines of the Edison type. In reproducing the process Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed March as, 1919. Serial No.

actuating the stylus,

and iro lever, records the result- Patented Ma 11, 1920.

is reversed, the undulations in the'record lever and diaphragm toreproduce in the air, the sounds correspending to those originally recorded.

All of the physical factors concerned are of extraordinari small magnitude and the minutest physical or mechanical imperfec tion shows up an enormously magnified disturbance in the sound roduced by the phonograph diaphragm. once, one of the primary objects of my present invention is to secure in a single device the required high degree of mecloinical strength and pre cision of operation, combined with extreme y scnsative response to all of the variations characteristic of complex or high frequency sound waves. In my resent device. the lever is substantially rigi The pivotlog of the lever is substantially noiseless and tree from any trace of rubbing, jumping or other relative movement of pivotal contact surfaces. The oscillatory movements of the lever are confined to a single plane and all twisting, skewing or other movements or vibrations of the lever are revented, except only the desired to and re movements in a. direction perpendicular to the diaphragm.

The noiseless, rigid pivoting and the noiseless springs and the levers free from vibratory movement in directions not perpendicula r to the diapbraqm, are especially important in devices of the Victor talking machine type in which the pivot lies in a. plane perpcndirular to the record, and the minute. miavoidable inequalities in the bottom of the groove tend to vibrate the stylus verticallyin directions not perpendicular to the diaphragm, thus causing disturbing noises at the same time that the sound record undulations in the sides of the moves are operating to produce the desire sounds by the desired vibration perpendicular to the dia )hragm.

'lhe special features of my construction whereby I secure the noiseless, frictionless, rigid pivoting in combination with any desired degree of scnsitiveness and ease of the pivotal movement in the desired plane, also make it possible to secure certainother essentials of faithful phonographic reproduction which have not been appreciated cieS of speech and music, with equal elliciencyiythat is,

practically or without dis n'oportionately amp}; ing any of said frequencies and wit out disproportionately diminishing any of them.

The disproportionate amplifying of certain frequencies either fundamental or components, commonly results from mechanical resoi nee or natural vibration of parts of the vibratory system or of the system as a'whole.

,The dispro iortionate diminishing of eer tain of .the requp neies commonly results from excessive pressure and friction of the at his on the record-such pressure diminis we the ease and freedom of movement clamp out reel; cause of of certain frequencies and the reason or ingra ha for faitht'ul reproduction of the higherrequency, small-amplitiulc com onents of the sound and it operates to amp out such high frequencies more than the lower ones. It is commonly employed however in aii attempt to control and the dispropoi'titmate amplifying due to mechanical resonance.

Mechanical resonance is therefore the di disproportionate amplifying which is necessa r direct cause or the pressure and damping which disproportionately diminishes the higher frequencies. ()ne object of my invention is to do away with the mechanical resonance and so do away with the ncccs sityd'for damping y invention recognizes, however. that u: apparatus of this kind, the natural elastic qualities which cause mechanical resonance are unavoidable; that the resonance ell'ccts may come from natural vibrations of certain elements of the vibratory system as well as from natural vibrations of the system as a whole; and, finallv, that the etl'ccts of these natural frequency vibrations can be avoided and complete y eliminated from the lllll" tioiiing of the device, by making the nut- \n-al. frequency oi the c astic elements too high foraudibility in the phonograph and the In'aturul frequency of the system asa whole too low to be not iccablc in the phono l liclievc these two conditions or qua ities have never before been embodied in a single instrument. This is because a low enough natural l'i'cqucncy for the lever requires that the inertia factor hc very great or the elasticity i'aclor very small. yet tlic inei'tia cannot be great because the lcvcr must be extremely light in order to properly perform its phonographic functions and the spring elements must have extremely high res lience in order that their individual natnral frequencies-may be higher than any at the frequencies that are audible in the phono ra h.

Viti the above dilliculties and purposes in view, I employ a light but rigid construetion whereby the lever moves as a unit, substantially without indiqicndcnt or naturalf vibrationswithin the range of pllOliO- graphic frequencies. l urtlu-rmorc, 1 cmploy resilience or spring members under extreme high tension, such as will prevent any disturbing movement or skewing the lever or of its pivotal axis, and such as will raise the natural vibrations of said spring clements to a frequency higher than any of the frequencies within the range mentioned. At the same time, the arrangement of these spring members is such that their enormous tensions are substantially balanced on the lever and there remains only a small resultant resilience available i'or elastic restoration oi the lever. llcncc the natural l'rcqnency oi the whole vibratory system may be kept as low as required even though the lever be vci'y light and the individual tcnsions ol' the separate springs very powerl'ul.

llaving thus eliminated mechanical rcsonaiicc without rendering the vibratory system cithcr still or sluggish. 1 am able to usc a light sound box with minimum pres sure and friction ol' the stylus on the ltt'til' l. Frictional damping being minimized, the remaining damping factors are mainly those due to inertia of the lcvcr and internal molecular friction in the material of the vibratory parts. 'lhcsc aniqiproximatcly constant and their damping cil'ccts are not objcclionably grcatcr lor the high l'i'cqucncics than tor the low l'requcncics. .llcnce, this kind of dumping does not operate to distort the sounds Ulljttlltlllllbl).

in the present embodiment of my invention, the i'csilicut or spring clcincnts comprise onc or more highly tcnsioncd \vil'cs. clamped on opposite sides of and preferably extending through the lever. in combination with a pivotal hearing adjustable in a di rcction at right angles to the wires. llighly tcnsioncd avircs for similar purposes are used in the dcviccs of my prior applications above referred to but in those devices, the wires were spaced apart and symmetrically positioned with respect to the pivotal axis, that is to say. they converge and diverge equally and oppositely with respect to said axis so that their tension stresses are bulanced against each other and against the thrust of the stationary bearing. With such arrangement. it is not easy to keep the divergent wire tensions symmetrical with rcspect to the thrust of the adjustmentof the latter. because in practicc the wires sometimes stretch and yield un equally and ttlll(lllllt. the thrust of the bearing does not take eli'ect c actly midway tin bearing during lliU between the wires and hence the thrust acts to apply greater strain on one wire than on the other. My present invention C0lll1Il1- plates an improved arrangement whereby the same high tension is available to press the lever into perfect non-slip contact with the pivot bearing, and said bearing is adjustable to stretch the wire to a very high tension but instead of having two wires with balanced tensions, only one wire need be used and if more wires are used, they are deflected and stressed in the same direction and in the same plane, said plane being the plane of pivotal contact of the bearing agpinst the lever which is also the plane in w ich said bearing is adjusted to stretch the Wires to the required high tension.

The stability characteristic, that is the maintenance of a normal plane of rest for the lever from which pivotal movement is elastically resisted and toward which it tends to return, is obtained by employing a convex curved surface for the stationary bearing, as for instance, a cylindrical surface or a pair of alined spherical balls. ()ne highly tensioned wire disposed in a plane passing through the line of pivotal contact and through the axis of the spheres or cylinder, will give the desired self-restoring or stability characteristic because the relatively enormous tension of the wire pressing the lever squarely down on the curved bearing surface will prevent slip and will compel non-slip rocking of the lever upon the sphere, throughout a very considerable arc of pivotal movcnu-ntan are much greater than required for phonographic purposes.

In this connection, particular attention is called to the fact that such stable equilibrium. will not result where a curved hearing surface is used on the lever in combina tion with a. plane rocking surfa e on the sound box, except in certain special cases, as, for instance, where the points of engage ment of the wire with the lever are one line located between circumference of the curved bearing surface and its axis of ("\H'Vlk ture.

In certain cases, cross-sectional and transverse elasticity or stiffness of the material of the wire may be a factor in producing self-restoring resilience of the lever, but in the preferred arrangements, the arc of lateral movement of the wire is very small, so that the stiffness of the material of the wire is not likely to be an in'iportant resil ience factor, particularly where thc wires are not very thick and short.

ly my preferred a rra ngcn'ient whcrci n the ball or cylinder surfaccs are on the i and 'uhercin the wires and thc linc of con-- tact and the center or axis of curv ture oi thc curv-cd bearing surface all lie a; "err znatcly in the same plane, the self restoring resilience of the lever movements will increase with increasing tension of the wire, and for equal tensions will increase with increase of the.angle between the unclamped portions of the wire and the pivotal axis. Hence, forcing the adjustable bearing against the lever increases the certainty of perfect, non-slip pivoting not only by in creasing the amount of the tension of the wire but also by increasing its effective angle of pull toward the pivotal axis.

3y using two or more wires disposed in substantially the same plane and preferably parallel but not touching each other, the total tension may be multiplied without exceeding the tensile strength of the wires. Using more wires is usually preferable to increasing the diameter of a single wire. This is especially true where the preferred material, piano steel wire, is employed, because in the larger sizes, the wire is apt to be too still and stubborn for smooth, abrupt bending without breaking, at the points of sharp deflection adjacent the clamps and adjacent the points of engagement with the lever. Independently of the above factors, the selllrcstoring power may be decreased within wide limits by decreasing the diameter of the bearing balls.

'll'ith the above variables at command, I can get any required degree of sensitiveness and small pivotal resilience for the lever, substantially independently of the high tension of the wires. Moreover, the ad justment of the bearing to tension the wires does not change the plane of bearing thrust and wire tension. lleucc, l have no dillicultv in getting a wire tension sutiicient for pcrl'cct non-slip pivoting and for a natural frequency of the unclamped portions of the wire too high to be noticeable, while at the same time keeping the resilient self-restoring cll'ect of the wire tension on the lever so small that the natural frequency of the vibratory in as a whole, is too low to produce objectionable cll'ccts.

The various fcalurcs of my invmitiou may be morc fully understood from the following description in conncction with the accompanying drawings oi a desirable embodiment of my present invention.

In the drawings:

Figure l is an elevation or fan c view of a phonographic reproduccr embodying one form of my invention:

Fig. 2 is an cud view of Fig. 1 from be low;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line Zl--;l. Fig. 1;

Figs. l and ii are sections on the line 4-l showing an initia msitiou and one of the adjusted posilioz of the parts:

Figs. ti, 7 and o arc icspc tivcly face. end and scctional \icws coi'rrspoznling to Figs. -nid Pi but; showing a modified arrange zn-snt of the pivotal mounting; I

Ill)

Ti U

Figs. 9 and I" are respeetirely longitudi nal sertion and l'aee views ol' a l'ortn ol' leve arranged for use with a single wire.

The deviee in \\'llltll the invention is emhodied t'olnprises the reversed l'ralne l and eover :3 inelosmg a diaphragm Il elamped 'rured to the diaphragm hy elamping nuts 13 and to the lever hy elamping nuts II.

The ahoye parts may he ol' any l\'llti\\'tl or desired eonstrnetion hut in any event the sound hox and h-ver should he strong and rigid and are prel'erahly made ol' aluminum sinee etnplo \'tnettl of my present invention makes it uuneeessary to have a heavy sound hox pressing the stylus heavily in ontaet with the reeord.

.\s shown in l"i l. l and 5. the stylus leyer is proyided with a steel liloelt ol' in sort 1 all'ording hard. |n'el'eral|l polished. hearing snrl'aees H lti. l'or rot-hing engagement with the hall hearings IT. IT. \l'llltll are prel'erahly ol' yery hard polished steel. The lnat'lt'et 9 is also provided with steel inserts I. 1*. having serew threaded proiwti us Il 1 formed with one or more sets ol' alined passages i 3. and L'l. ll. through whit-h one or more tension wires 2" t are threaded and in \vhieh they are elamped hetweeu v teel washers L'l. threaded uut J washer :lt and nut 27.

l have diseovered that the wire passages through steel insert to on the lever as well as the lampiug washers and nuts on studs lll should ill of steel anu prel'erahly ol very hard tool steel. for in praetieal use of the derive. l have found that the eonstant vibration of the lever will :-anse the wires. when dellerted aml highly tensioned as shown in Fig. to rapidly eat the metal even though it he as hard as average niaehine steel. The parts may he east. preferahly die-east. with the steel inserts in position. The material of the parts is preferahly a stronglaluminum alloy.

The halls l? are mounted. prel'erahly immovahly in soeltets J 1 in the emls of steel st'rews il 29. The serews are shown as provided with serew driver slots 3H for adjusting them. Alt'li nuts or any other lt'nown or desired lot-hing means may he enlployed for holding the serews in desired adjusted position though my experienee has been that where elose lilting serews of eouthe other stud.

siderahle size are used, the t'rietion is stillieient to render sueh lot-king means unneeessary". exeept where it is desired to prevent the user from too easily tampering with the adiustment.

lhe manner of assemhling and adjusting the deviee will he evident from Figs. 4 and .3. The washers ii are slipped ovorstnds ll). The wire :32 is inserted through the lower t'ansverse passage on one of the studs, through the lever insert to and through lt is then drawn perl'eetly straight and elamped lrww'aslturs 25, :25. The other wire Z-l is then similarly threaded. washers it; applied and elamping nuts :27 serewed down. 'lheserews :3! are then rotated to l'oree the hearing halls against the surl'aee ol'the steel insert on the under sidn ol' the lerer to delleet the wires and streteh them to the required high tension. The serews may he rotated to adyanee the halls alternately until the desired position is "melted. For eonyenienee in assemhli'flg' and adjusting the parts. the insert hearing surl'aee on the stylus lever preferably has two parallel shallow grooves ltt. it). formed on straight lines lengthwise ol' the lever and formed transversely on eoneave enrres ol' mueh greater radius than the radius of the halls. so that so far as eoneerns their l'unetiot'ting as hearing surl'aees a l'ter the deviee is assembled. they are not dill'erent l'rom the plane surl'aees. During tltoalternate adjusting operation the eoneaye eross seetion is nsel'ul in preventing side-slip ol' the lever and in loeating it symmetrieally upon the two halls.

desirahle emhodiment of my invention may he obtained hy making the parts in the proportions shown in Figs. l and i3 and on a seale sneh that the halls IT. IT. will he ahout one-eighth ineh in diameter and using till ltltl o. 12 steel piano wire whieh is about .029

ineh diameter and has a tensile strength ol over you pounds. In the initial msition shown in l ig. 4. all of the wires lit-tween the elamps will he free to streteh hut only ahout half of it. that is one-quarter on one side of the lever and another quarter on the other side of the lever will he free for delleetion hy adjustment of the hall hearings. In the partienla' adjustment shown in Fig. 5. therefore. the tension has stretelted the total length of the wire hetween the elamps almnt 211'. and the tree portions of the wire hare heen delleeted to an angle of ahout t? tothe pivotal axis. .\t thisangle. hall of the total tension on the wires will he arailahle for downward pressure of the lever upon the halls. s the tensile strength of the No. sion ot'fiuto loopoumls or more the downward pressure on eaeh hall may he 25 to 50 pounds or even more. .\s the eontaet hetn een a polished sphere and a polished plane Ill) l2 wire will permit a sale tenas to lengt surface is theoretically a point, it will be appreciated that these pressures reckoned as pr ssures-z per square inch are so enormous that the sphere surface must flatten or the plane surface indent enough to give something more than point contact.

Of course the continued. high l requency vibration to which these highly tensioned wires are subject in ordinary use will cause a certain amount of permanent lengthening of the wires thereby somewhat decreasing the maximum tensions and pressures above noted, but it will be evident that the greatest possible reduction of pressure obtainable in this Way will not substantially alter the nature of the enormous pressure of contact of the bearing surfaces. Long continued practical use of the device shows that an absolutely non-slip engagement of the surfaces is established even though the sur-' faces be hard polished steel well lubricated,

and such engagement isimaintaincd even though the device be kept in continuous use for long eriods.

\Vhile have given the above illustrative example of dimensions, strengths and proportions that may be employed in producing a desirable embodiment of my invention it will be evident that wide variations are pos sible without departing from the spirit thereof.

For instance, the wires may be put under a certain amount of initial tension at the time they are drawn straight as in Fig. 4, in which case the tension contemplated in Fig. 5 will be attained by screwing up the bearing screws a shorter distancc than there indicated, or, by screwing up the bearing screws the same distance shown in Fig. .3, a greater tension will be attained. Also screwing up the bearing screws to deflect the wires a certain distance before the clamping nuts are screwed tight, will give less tension when the bearing screws are adjusted to the position shown in Fig. 5. Obviously, also, a given distance of bean ing adjustment will give less tension when the clamping points'are farther apart so that there is a greater length of wire to be stretched, and more tension when the clamping points are closer together.

Various sizes of wire maybe employed and I have used larger piano steel wires up to .05 inch in diameter and smaller ones down 'to and below .01. The larger the wires and the shorter the lengths of the free portions between the fixed clamp and the Epint of lever engagement the greater will the circular and transverse elasticity (stiffness) of the material, capable of figuring as a factor of the resilience of the pivotal movement of the lever. With the smaller size Wires, however, substantially all the ivotal resilience will be due entirely wise stretching oi the wires. Moreover, it is to be noted, that even in the case of the thicker wires, the geometrical relations are such that rocking the lever through the extremely small angles necessary for phonographic work, requires practically no lateral movement of the lever engaging end of the wire. Hence, lateral stillness is not an appreciable factor. By refercl'ice to Fig. 5, it will be seen that this is particularly true of the lower wire 22 which engages the lever along a line only slightly beyond the line of pivotal contact of the bearing surface with the ball, and is less true of wire 23 which not only engages the lever on a line much farther beyond the bearing surface, but also has its fixed clamping points on a line beyond said surface.

The modifications shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8 will be easily understood from the foreoing. The lever shoulder shown at 31 ig. 3, is slightly exaggerated in Fig. 7 am the insert 15 is located therein with its bearing surface and wire perforations transverse to the longitudinal axis of the lever instead of parallel therewith. (lo-relatively, the ball bearing screws 29' and the wires 21', 22', as well as the screw studs 1! 19' are arranged in or parallel with the plane of the diaphragm instead of at right angles thereto. The ball bearing screws 29' are shown as secured in the desired position of adjustment by lock screws 32, 32. Said ball bearing screws are inserted from within the cavity in the'box f 'ame and adjusted to required tension before the diaphragm is put in place.

The use of clamping" nuts for coupling the lever to the diaphragm is of special convenience for determining the normal or rest position of the lever with respect to the diaphragm and these nutsi may be adjusted so that both diaphragm and lever are in normal rest positions without any initial tension in either direction, or they may be more or less tensioned eithcr toward each other or away from each other,as desired.

In Figs. 9 and 10 a modified form of stylus lever is shown having a passage for a single wire, formed by registering grooves in adjacent faces of the steel clamping plates 40, 41, which are secured to the lever by screws 42, 42.

As shown in the drawings the free end of the stylus lever is provided with a needle 51 secured in the-socket 52 by screw 53. The latter may be screw threaded into a steel insert 54 if desired. -It will be understood that where the device is to be used for recording instead of reproducing, the annular member 5 will be used for sound receiving instead of sound emittin and a recording cutter will be substitute producing needle 51.

The various forms of stylus lever which I have shown have a. common feature of confor the rethin blade like struction which T find to be peculiarly ellicient and well functioning in connection with the high pressure contact of bearing surfaces characteristic of my present invention. This feature is the relatively massive block of metal located at the pivot in combination with a relatively light construction for the long arm of the lever, nirticularly the construction shown. in l igs. 6, 7, 9 and 10. Great strength is of course desirable at this point and more or less massiveness is therefore to be expected, but there seems to be a further acoustic advantage.

Apparently the mass some extent as a noise absorber, lessening needle noises and it seem.- probable that this func-tionis better served where the mass at the pivot tapers rather abruptly into the blade-like lever arm as in Figs. (3, T and 5) than where the transition is tapered on" as in Fig. 1. My experience tends to show that this advantage would not appca r if the same lever arm were used in connection with the relatively light pressure pivoting characteristic of present day commercial instruments.

I claim:

1. A sound box having a diaphragm, a. lever secured to the diaphragm, convex hearing surfaces on the box and co-acting surfaces on the lever adapted for rocking contact thereon, in combination with a stretched wire engaging the lever and secured to the box on ol'iposite sides thereof in a plane passing through to the line of piv'otal conta t of said bearing surfaces and at equal opposite angles to said line of contact, to gether with means for adjusting one of said bearing surfaces in said plane.

2. A sound box, diaphragm and" stylus lever, in combination with a pivotal mounting therefor, comprising convex bearing surfaces mounted on the box and engaging the lever, and transversely stretched wires for pressing the lever into non-slip engagement with said convex surfaces. the wires, the line of contact and the center or axis of curvature of the curved bea ring surfaces all lying approximately in the same plane.

3. sound box having a diaphragm. a lever secured to the diaphragm, hearings on the box and on the lever. in combination with resilient tension means stretched between the sound box and the lever on opposite sides ()ftllt, latter, at substantially equal opposite angles to the line of contact of said bearing surfaces. the free portions of said wire between the box and the lever being stretched in substantially the same plane with each other and with the line of contact of said bearing surfaces.

, 4. A sound box having a diaphragm. a lever secured to the i-liaphragm, hearings on the box and on the lever, in combination al this point acts to with a highly tensioned wire stretched between the site Sll les stretched in si each other said bearin sound box and the lever on o of the latter, at substantially e line of contact 0 the ibst:

surfaces PP q? i said free portions of said t and the lever bein f contact of sound box having a diaphragm, a lever secured to the dia phragm. bea rings on the box and on the lever, the box bearing ha viru a convex curvci tion with resilient ten sound box and the lever on 0 between the posite sides equal opposit of said beam of said wire. being stretcl plane with each otl contact of said bearm (l. A lever the box a posite sides equal opposite of said bearing said wire. bet

mg stretched with each oi:

; tact of said I l. souni the box of the l e angles to the surfaces. the free portions ng bet icd ween in a convex curved tion with a highly between the sound l of the surfai in her lea ri and 1 surface, in combinasion means stretched atter, at substantially line of contact the box and the lever substantially the same r and with the line of g surfaces.

sound box having a diaphragm, a secured to the diaphragm, hearings on ad on the lever,

the box bearing surface. in combmatcnsioned wire stretched mx and the lever on oplatter, angles to the line of contact at substantiallya-s, the free portions of aen the box and the lover besubstan tially the same plane with the line of conng surfaces. I box having a diaphragm, a

the diaphragm, hearings on and on the lever, comprising ahned steel balls, in

the box heari ng combination with resilient tension means stretched between the sol stretched H. A lever secured the box Hid box to the d and on the lever, comprising ahned stce and the lever on oppor, at substantially equal c line of contact of said ic free portions of said box and the in substantia with each other and w of said bearing surfaces.

sound box having I lever being same plane lly the col contact ith the lin a diaphragm, a iaphragin, hearings on the box bearing 1 balls, in combination with a highly tensioned wire stretchi between the sound box site sidesof the latter, opposite angles to the bearing surfaces, the wire between the box and the lever'on o 0- at substantially equal line of contact of said free portions of said and the lever being stretched in substantially the same plane with each other and with of said bearing surfaces.

9. A sound box lever. in combination ing therefor, faces mounte prisin the line of contact liaphragin and stylus with a pivotal mountg convex bearingmarbox and engaging 'the ill till

contact and center or the curved hearing surface all lying approximately in the same plane, together with means f1 adjusting said convex hearing surfaces to inerease the tension and raise the natural frequeney of the free portions of the wire above the range of t'requeneies notireable in the phonograph.

ll). A sound ho.\' having a diaphragm, a lever serured to the diaphragm, hearings on the box and on the lever eontaeting with each other on a line parallel with the diaphragm and at right angles to the lever, in combination with resilient; memhers seenred to the. sound hox, engaging the lever and arranged to t'oreihly press the lever hearing sul'l'are against the hox hearing surl'armaml means for adjusting said in; hearing sub stantially in opposition to surh pressureto vary its amount.

ll. sound hox having a diaphragm. a lever Hlt'lllttl to the diaphragm, hearings on the lsox and on the lever rontarting with earli other on a line parallel with the dia-- phragm and at right angles to the lever. in eomhination with resilient tension members, seeurpd to the sound hox and engaging the lever, arranged to ali'ord pressure perpendieular to the eontaeting hearing surfares. and :uljustahle means for moving said hox hearing and lever suhslanlially in opposition to said pressure to vary the same.

12. phonographie sound hox of the type in \vhieh the diaphragm urinating lever pivots upon relatively movahle hearing sul'taees on hox and lever resia'etively, and in eomhination with said parts. resilient means arting hy longitudinal tension to insure eontinuous non-slip eoutart of said hearing surfaees.

lll. phonographie sound hox ol' the type in whirh the diaphragm aetualing lever pivots upon relatively movahle hearing sur- 'l'ares.un hox and lever respeetivrly and in eomhination with said parts, resilient means aeting hy longitudinal tension to insure eontinuous non -slip eontaet of said hearing surfares, said resilient means being highly tensioued hut arranged to ali'ord small resilient opposition to pivotal mote ments of the lever.

14. A sound hox, a diaphragm, a lever seeured to the diaphragm. and means for piv oting the lever on the hox, in eomhination with steel wires stretehed 'from the hox sup port to the lever :uljarent the pivotal axis of the latter to maintain the pivotal hearing surtaees in intimate ('ontaet and means for adjusting the bearings :nd the lever away from said support to streteh said wires equally to any required degree of tension.

15. A sound hox having a diaphragnn, a lever seeured to the diaphragm, hearings on the hox and on the lever contacting with earh other on a line parallel with the diaphragm. in eomhination with resilient tension memhers, seeured to the sound box and engaging the lever. arranged to alford a pressure perpemlieular to the eontaeting hearing sin-fares, and adjustable means for moving said hox hearing and lever substantially in opposition to said pressure to im l'll'ilfil tl llttl'lttll'it tilt Stun Hi. sound hox having a diaphragm, a level seemed to the diaphragm, hearings on the hox and on the lever contacting with earh other on a line parallel with the diaphragm and at right angles to the lever, in tulllldlmlllm with a resilient tension memlwr, si-t'ul'wi to the sound hox and engaging the lever arrange-d to all'ord pressure on the a'uhlil 'llllg' hearing surlaees: said hearings im-luding a pair oi serews arranged endwise to said pressure wherehy said lever may *he moved in opposition to surh pressure to vary its amount.

lT. phomn raphie sound hov ot the type in \vhn-h the diaphragm actuating lever pivots upon relativelv movahle hearing surl'a es on hos and lever respeetively, and in manhination with said parts. re. out means aeting h v longitudinal tension to insure rontinuous non slip t-ontaet of said hearing surfaces. and means for moving the hwer with respert to the hox in a direetion to vary the longitudinal tension of the resilient memhers without skewing or endwise 'displam-nu-nt oi' the lever or of its pivotal ll phonographie sound hox of the type in \\'lilt'll the diaphragm artuating lever pivots upon relatively movahle sur l'ares on hox and lever respectively, and in eomhination with said parts. resilient means aeting hy longitudinal tension to insure continuous non-slip rontaet of said hearing surfaces, and means for moving the bearings and the lever with respect to the box in a direction to vary the longitudinal tension of the resilient members without sken ing or erulwise displai-ement of the lever or of its pivotal axis, said resilient means heing highlv tensioned hut arranged to afford small resilient opposition to'pivotal movements of said lever.

Signed at Buffalo. in the eounty of Erie and State oi New York, this 13th day of March, A. D. i919.

ELlVOOD (lRlSSINGEll.

so I

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